Sunday, May 23, 2004

Shades of grayMEMRI summarizes a Palestinian Human Rights Group Report on Internal Violence in the Palestinian Authority Areas.

The report states that simplifying the Middle East conflict into a purely Israeli-Palestinian conflict disregards any shades of gray, and that the Palestinian tragedy of an internal cycle of violence cannot be attributed solely to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Only an examination of the interactions within Palestinian society and an understanding of the disagreements and clashes among the various political streams, clans, and factions can give a fuller picture of this society. This is because during the Al-Aqsa Intifada these divisions have led to the development and escalation of what the author of the report terms an "Intra'fada." Thus, for example, the report notes that from 1993 to 2003, 16% of Palestinian civilian deaths were caused by Palestinian groups or individuals.